Clutch trouble seems quite common. Why hasn't someone made clutches for our Heli's with free floating shoes and springs? They would have much more contact surface and you could adjust them by simply changing springs. Seems like an obvious solution to me.

I can understand the OEM's but Why no upgrade clutches made this way?

This Thing Has More Bugs Than a Big City Flop House.

If you did get a clutch with springs and shoes, the force needed to remove the springs for replacement would be far too great. On, say, a go kart, the clutch does not spin at the same RPM's that the heli clutches spin at. The idle of a heli engine is close to the MAX RPM of a larger engine. I think that they would fly apart and be hazzardous!

Where's that EASY button?

The spring force could be easily controlled with a threaded tool for spring changes. But the centrifugal clutches on Go Carts and Mini Bikes are exactly the type I had in mind. Spring changes probably would'nt even be necessary I would think that a manufacturer could design them to work at the correct speed for any given engine speed and HP. Maybe have a choice for different types of flyng?

This Thing Has More Bugs Than a Big City Flop House.

Agreed!

I'm with RonRock. The RC cars have great clutches, with 3 spring-retracted shoes. They are adjustable for the engaging rpm. Other than dollars, there is no reason for not having these better clutches on the helis, although there is something to be said for the inherent simplicity, low cost and ruggedness of the standard clutch on machines like a Raptor 50v2.

I do firmly believe that if the rotor rpm is high enough to lift the heli, the clutch SHOULDN'T slip. That's called robust engineering.

I always thought it would be cool to have full RC control over clutch engagement

My heli has been thru about 10 gallons and i recently changed the cooling fan to a metal upgrade that meant removing it from the clutch assembly.

Now i dunno how long clutch shoes of linings are supposed to last but mine was still in great shape. Only had one brief hot start and always easy on the throttle on starting up and bringing up blade speed.

So maybe it's just a case of used and abused most of the time when it comes to clutch wear - like in a car.

Another good point is the flywheel. On an rc car the clutch is usually secured to the flywheel. On a heli the clutch is the flywheel. Another reason for increased cost. I agree though that there should be a better design. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to engineer and I'd sure buy it.

Jeff

If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.

The lifetime of a clutch is largely determined by how well the engine is aligned. Any kind of misalignment will result in the shoes being very slightly bent up and down for each rev as they have to take up the misalignment. This will eventually cause them to fracture prematurely and a well setup clutch should last many many hundreds of flights. However, even with a perfectly setup clutch, misalignment can still occur during 3D flight due to frame flexing, particularly in moves like sideways tictocs. Plastic frames will give the most while carbon frames largely overcome this problem.

I agree with Steve H, there are a number of helis that do not have clutch issues. Some that easily go 400 or more flights without wearing out clutch parts. And If someone has only owned a heli design that has such inherent problems he may well think it a common problem with all R/C helis. But that is certainly not the case.

Some clutch designs can also be very reliable without needing any specical alignment. But those that do need any type of special alignment will last a lot longer if they are properly aligned.